Category Archives: Security Alerts & Tips

It has recently come to our attention that several phishing emails are being circulated. A sample of one of the emails is seen below. If you receive one of these emails, DO NOT click on any links or open any attachments. DELETE immediately. If you have clicked on any links, please contact your IT department or provider.

These emails are not specific to Alpine Bank customers. Reports from many institutions have surfaced. The safety of our community is important to us. If you have any questions on these types of emails, please feel free to contact our Electronic Banking Department at 815-398-6500.

Alpine Bank and Paper Recovery Service Corporation, a secure shredding solutions company, are partnering together again to hold Alpine Bank’s annual fall Community Shred Day on Saturday, September 20, 2014, from 9 a.m. to Noon in the parking lot of Alpine Bank’s Belvidere Downtown Branch at 600 South State Street, in Belvidere. Alpine Bank Community Shred Day is a FREE event open to the entire community. Attendees, without leaving the comforts of their vehicles, will be able to drop off their documents at the “shredding drive-thru” and watch Paper Recover shred them during the event on site free of charge.

Identity theft continues to be a serious growing crime in the United States. As noted on the Federal Trade Commission’s Web site, nearly 9 million Americans are victims of some form of identity theft each year. Shredding personal documents and information is just one way to avoid becoming a victim. At one of our Community Shred Day events, Alpine Bank shredded a world record, collecting an astounding 253,318 lbs. of shred, which is more than the combined weight of all of the steel parts in the Statue of Liberty.

Alpine Bank hosts two Community Shred Days each year – one in the spring and one in the fall.

More Information
For more information about this Community Shred Day, visit www.bankalpine.com or call 815.398.6500. For more information about identity theft and other important security tips, visit https://www.bankalpine.com/security-privacy.

About Paper Recovery Service Corporation
Based in Loves Park, IL, Paper Recovery Service Corporation provides solutions from secure document destruction to recycling for businesses in manufacturing, retail, or professional services.

Alpine Bank has received notice that IBM Trusteer has become aware of a phishing e-mail campaign targeting IBM Trusteer. The campaign started on May 9, 2014.

The fraudulent e-mails appear to come from Trusteer with the sender’s e-mail address masquerading as support@trusteer.com, an e-mail account that is no longer in use.

These e-mails are part of a spear phishing campaign that uses IBM Trusteer’s brand to distribute a malicious executable file.

The emails are addressed directly to recipients containing their full name and e-mail address. The content of the message requests that recipients run the attached file in order to upgrade their IBM Trusteer Rapport software version.

Please note that IBM Trusteer will not distribute Rapport updates as email attachments.

In response, IBM Trusteer has already begun rolling out an update that will protect users from accidentally opening the malicious file. Further recommendations from IBM Trusteer are as follows:

1. Users who received this email are requested to delete it immediately.

2. Users who may have already launched the attached file should be instructed to refrain from Online Banking, and contact Alpine Bank’s eBanking Department at 815.398.6500 or by email at ebanking@bankalpine.com.

There has been a lot of talk about the Heartbleed Bug this past week. Alpine Bank has been proactive in researching all aspects of www.bankalpine.com to view our vulnerability. We have run diagnostic tests on our website to insure that it is not at risk to this threat. We have also asked all of our third party vendors to complete vulnerability risks on their sites. At this time, there are no known vulnerability threats to any Alpine Bank sites.

We will continue to monitor the situation and if the need arises, we will take the necessary steps to mitigate the threat of this bug.

Alpine Bank is hosting two free identity theft seminars on April 8 and 10, 2014, two of more than 3,000 free financial programs during Money Smart Week®, April 5-12, 2014.

The April 8 session will be conducted by Jessica Hendon, AVP & Security Officer for Alpine Bank, from 3:00pm-4:00pm at the Rockford Public Library on East State Street. Lizmara Aboytes, Banking Officer & Assistant Branch Manager, will be conducting a session in Spanish at the Rockford Public Library’s Main Branch on Wyman Street, on April 10 from 3:30pm-4:30pm. To sign up for one of these two programs, entitled Securing Your Identity: How to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft, or to find other programs in your area, visit www.moneysmartweek.org.

Money Smart Week is a public awareness campaign to promote financial education across all age groups. Launched in 2002 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the program is now active in more than 45 states through national partnerships with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Cooperative Extension and the American Library Association.

“Money Smart Week began as a coordinated effort among a small group of Chicago-area organizations working to promote financial literacy,” says Alejo Torres, Senior Outreach Manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. “Today, Money Smart Week continues to expand nationally, providing greater awareness of, and access to, personal finance resources for all.”

Money Smart Week events are open to the public at businesses, financial institutions, schools, libraries, nonprofits and government agencies throughout the country on topics including kids and money, unemployment, managing student debt and retirement. To learn more about Money Smart Week® visit www.moneysmartweek.org.

For questions or to register for Alpine Bank’s free Identity Theft classes, pleace contact one of the instructors. Their information is provided below.